Coping Strategies & Self-Compassion

We hear a lot about self-care these days, but the version we get sold is usually very neat and marketable. It looks like quiet meditation spaces, candles, or taking a long bath (and there is nothing wrong with any of those!). But the actual reality of practising self-care is often incredibly inconvenient...

A couple of days ago my grocery delivery was over an hour late. When the driver finally arrived, I asked how he was doing. It was brutal out there even at 10 am, and they were running significantly behind after a warehouse fridge breakdown knocked everything out of kilter.. He said his office had...

I nearly didn't write this post. Not because I don't have anything to say. If anything, I have too much. But because there's a version of professional life where therapists are supposed to have it together. Where we speak about hardship from a careful distance, using phrases like 'when clients experience...'...

Have you ever said, or heard someone say, "that's just how I am"? Or perhaps something even more final-sounding: "it's just my basic nature." Maybe it's about being someone who shuts down in arguments, or who always puts others first, or who can't seem to stop criticising themselves. Delivered with...

The holidays can be a season of light and celebration, but they can also be a season of absence. The not-there-ness of loved ones no longer with us can ache so deeply at these times of togetherness and celebration. Their place at the table (whether it’s set or not) is empty. Their voice, an echo in...

You won’t hear me talk about “excuses” in the counselling room. Not because I think people are always doing what they want to do, or because I think change is easy – but because I don’t believe that judging someone’s reasons helps them grow. In fact, I don’t really believe in the...